China’s largest new energy vehicle (NEV) maker BYD kicked off to a strong start for this year, as the company claimed Wednesday of 28,668 NEVs sold, soaring up 291% year-on-year, per the company’

China’s largest new energy vehicle (NEV) maker BYD kicked off to a strong start for this year, as the company claimed Wednesday of 28,668 NEVs sold, soaring up 291% year-on-year, per the company’s unaudited internal data.

This is in line with last year’s up trend in the NEV sector. A total of 1.26 million greener vehicles were sold in China in 2018, up 61.7% year-on-year, against the sluggish trend for the whole auto sector which saw a first-ever drop in 28 years.

The Chinese government’s goal is to put 5 million new energy cars on the road by 2020.

China has the world’s largest NEV stocks, with cumulative sales of almost 3 million units by 2018.

Despite the world’s dividing opinions on EVs, China has already risen to be the largest maker and market for EVs, as the country hopes to cut pollution, reduce reliance on oil and to update its automobile manufacturing industry.